Boldly go
by EllieN7
Summary: AU based upon the premise of Quarians establishing first contact. Romance, minor drama, and a whole lot of shit blowing up! *In Progress!* *Had to shift around chapters to make more chronological sense*
1. Foreword

Foreword

I am a hardcore romance nut, absolutely love the stuff. **My Mass Effect** will be a retelling and reimagining of the entire saga, with a very healthy dosage of romance in there for you closet romance buffs ;). I also love smut! This is going to be heavily AU with some pretty obvious inspirations from amazing community works, namely And the Meek Shall Inherit the Galaxy. Paragon's work is amazing and his ideal for an AU is simply too good to not be explored further. Please do remember that this is my first dive into Fanfiction and I really want to tell the story my way, but I do welcome criticism.

Sorry guys I am a hardcore MshepxTali writer and have been a **fan…** of that ship since the game was released.

I hope you enjoy this, thanks again

EllieN7

P.S. Talimancers forever!

If I can't romance a Quarian in Andromeda, Im gonna riot

PPS: I had to shift alot of chapters around so sorry for blowing up your notifications. I put myself in a really shitty spot in the way I organized this shit. No more past chapters. No more confusions.


	2. Chapter 1

First contact

…

Walking out into the galactic stage Humanity had huge expectations from those that roamed the galaxy. They soon found out that many species were cruel to each other. Cruel to the Qurians, cruel to the Krogan. Humans were just beginning to get their space legs, and luckily for them the first species they met were friendly. Luckily for the Quarians, they got to make first contact.

…

When humans first stepped out into the stars, they were greeted with silence. This was to the relief of some, and to the dismay of others. One little boy aboard a starship in particular was distraught. He expected big, scary, intelligent, and even pretty aliens. His name was Jonathan Shepard, and nonetheless he was a young, eager, and exceedingly intelligent boy in space. Accompanying his mother, Hannah Shepard aboard the most cutting edge Frigate the Alliance had cooked up, he remained hopeful that they would encounter new life. Friendly life hopefully, he thought to himself.

The group of aliens, Humanity would come to know as the Council, had long abandoned their patrols of the Sol cluster and the relay that had been discovered nearby. This, unbeknownst to Humanity was a blessing. Due to the council's removed presence from the area, another species known as the Quarian decided to investigate the area for any possible resources.

"Anything to report Lt Davies?" Hannah walked onto the main bridge, hands behind her back as she inquired for the latest updates.

"Uh yes ma'am, our long range sensors are picking up something massive and unmoving" Lt Davies replied quickly.

"This will be interesting" Hannah thought to herself, and a small amount of Adrenaline worked into her system. "All hands to your stations and prepare for a possible contact" She stated into the intercom alerting the staff. Her thoughts briefly drifted to her son. Her eyes faced the display and they began to approach a gigantic oblong structure that they would later come to know as the mass relays.

…

"Captain we are 5 minutes out from the Sol Cluster" Rael'Zorah nodding as he received his helmsman's message. He was curious and hopeful as to what they would find in this unexplored cluster. His people needed something, as extinction lay just around the corner, and the council would do nothing to help them. Squeezing his fists tight at the thought of the Council he, looks ahead with a positive feeling creeping upon him.

Jumping out of the mass relay's FTL they immediately pick up unrecognized signatures on their scanners. "Sir we got company!" his helmsman shouts to him.

"Prime our primary cannons but do not fire just yet, I believe we are dealing with a new species" Rael says, eyes glued to the screen and on the alien vessels, his envy hardly contained. Their ships were slightly more primitive but they had resources. Silently he prayed to the ancients that they were friendly. "Begin broadcasting on all frequencies and start a very, very slow approach and stop at 1200 kilos out" Rael was a experiencing a wave of emotions. Primarily fear, as he decided to bring his wife and young daughter on the accompanying vessels that were due shortly behind them. "Contact the Fleet and have them hold off on their approach for now, let them know I will be attempting contact with a new species and will immediately be setting up diplomatic relations. We must get to them before they are spoiled by the poisonous galactic community" Rael stated firmly, fists squeezing once more at the mere thought of the Council.

…

"Ma'am we are being hailed on multiple frequencies and the alien vessel is making a slow approach" Lt Davies reports clearly excited.

"Ahh come one now Davies! Don't get a nerd boner from meeting aliens ok?" The second helmsman Sargent Allie Jenkins gives him a hard time and Hannah has an even more difficult time containing her laughter before instantly returning to business.

Striding closer to the main bridge she takes a deep breath, "Jenkins, patch me through"

The screen flickers to life, and all the crew aboard the main bridge of the Human vessel take a deep breath, Hannah looks upon their visitors. At first they were both slightly frustrated, contact with new species is usually slowed severely by the language barrier. After sometime, they decided to use graphs, and images to get a baseline for each other's languages. The alien showed them a picture of his little one "Na'Vera" he said struggling to pronounce the human word, "Dauuter." Hannah made a motion that indicated a desire to see the image larger, to which the alien seemed happy to oblige. Moving closer he was met with a human chorus of "awe." Continuing the alien said her name "Tali'Zorah nar Rayya" and then pointing to himself "Rael'Zorah nar Rayya."

Trying to pronounce his name Hannah started, "Rieal…" To her surprise that alien started laughing as did most of the bridge. The alien apologized, "Me sorry for laughter, just remind me, children language learn."

Johnny had heard they made contact with aliens and despite all of the lower deck crews warnings and efforts he had made his way to the bridge, he was going to meet some aliens! Making it to the bridge he seen the alien on the big screen and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Cool! So cool!" Grabbing the attention of his mother and alien he rushed up beside his mother and held her leg.

She gave him a glare but soon chuckled to herself thinking, "What curious boy could possibly resist meeting aliens for the first time?" she proceeded to introduce him to the alien. "Na'Vora, my son," she looked at the alien, trying to observe his body language because she couldn't see his face behind the visor.

"Suun" he nodded his head. Hannah continued introducing herself "Hannah" she then pointed to her son, "Jonathan" she smiled at the alien.

He then attempted to say their names, "Honnoh, Joinathen" the alien seemed confident in his pronunciation until Hannah let out a small chuckle that was then followed by a burst of laughter on his end, presumably from his crew.

Things continued like this back and forth for quite about 12 hours or so until both of the captains understood enough of each other's language to have a coarse conversation that frequently butchered the words in their languages. They had agreed to remain where they were and make face to face contact in 10 hours, allowing them both time to rest and prepare their reports. In this time another ship left planeside and made its way to them, this ship contained one Admiral Hackett, decided by the alliance to be the best representative of humanity alongside Admiral Hannah Shepard.

…

"Are you sure about this captain? We don't know very much about this new species" a crew member of the ship voiced some concerns.

Laughing softly, he replied, "I understand your concerns but I talked with them for over 12 gsh, if they were evil I'm sure they would have gave away some tell by now" his voice reassuring them.

…

His helmsman chimed in over the comm system, "Sir you wife and child have child have just come into system, they are asking to board" It went without saying that they were granted permission to board, as Rael was missing them both and feeling the need to see his bondmate once more.

"We will remain cautious but this is an opportunity we cannot afford to miss out on, a new seemingly friendly species, untainted by the poisonous smug of the Council. Potential friends. Keelah! This is the ancestors answering our prayers!" Full of hope he mused silently to himself.

His musing was interrupted once more by an announcement from his helmsman. "Captain we got another Human vessel that just left FTL, should I prepare main guns?"

"No, they told us that their government was going to be sending another group of people to help with first contact, but on second thought prime those guns just in case, can't be too safe. We should prepare to be boarded; the contact is scheduled to be soon."

The arranged meeting time finally came and Hannah, Jonathan, and Admiral Hackett along with some armed marines boarded a small shuttle and began their journey towards the Quarian shuttle. Hannah glanced down at Jon, who seemed barely able to contain his excitement. He had decided to bring along his dinosaur toy so Rael's daughter would have something to play with, because Jon wasn't sure if they had toys like him. "Such a sweet boy" she thought to herself.

Admiral Hackett had been brought up to speed on all available reports as well as the Keelish that Hannah had managed to learn. They had both been practicing in effort to show their good will and desire for friendship. "This is big Hannah; Alliance brass is really pushing for us to bring them into the fold, into the Alliance."

They finally reached the Quarian vessel and prepared to board, the anxiety in the air was palpable to some, as the foreseeable future of Humanity would be heavily affected by this. Not yet familiar with the languages of each other, they clumsily requested to dock in the best Keelish they could muster. Unsure whether or not the aliens breathed oxygen, they decided it was best to wear their armored space suits. They weren't sure what diseases they might contract from them either.

They were lead to a larger area of the ship, but Hackett couldn't help but observe that the ship look beat to hell. These people were certainly more advanced than them but their equipment and their ships were heavily worn, with clear evidence of extensive maintenance. "What could push these people to this extent" Hackett wondered to himself, his worn hands caressing his stubble.

He had already guessed that they lived on their spacecraft due to the extensive maintenance and the fact that they keep their suits on constantly. His feelings shifted back and forth from wary, to empathetic for these people. They clearly had the ability to destroy them and good incentive to, but they had chosen instead to seek peace and friendship. This sat well with Hackett; he decided that he would do everything in his power to help these people.

…

They were brought to what Hannah could only assume was the captains quarters. It was very modest, but she got the feeling that this was how they lived. They lived here. Jon interrupted her musings when he spotted the child he ran over to her, speaking a better Keelish then all of the Alliance so far. "Tali'Zorah! He yelled "Caz'in? Play?" and although Tali was just a toddler, no older than 2 by human standards, she responded with a head nod. It was difficult for her to play with the boy because she was inside of her bubble but that did not seem to bother the young boy. He looked towards Rael, "Benir?" Much to Rael's shock the young man had held up the spare toy and asked him to sterilize it.

Rael had earlier held a brief discussion with them on the way to his quarters explaining the need for them to remain in their suits due to their inability to adapt to environments fast. He explained that they haven't been able to adapt fast enough to colonize another world, after they had lost their first.

Hackett had been too deep in his musings to overhear that they had lost their home planet and such, he didn't question it.

As their meeting went on they learned more and more words in each other's language, the barrier slowly falling. Hackett's curiosity made a slow and unwavering push and he finally cracked, "Why do you live on your ships? This ship looks like it has seen better days Rael." Rael and his wife sighed simultaneously as Rael got up to sit by Hackett.

"We lost home planet, make Geth, they kick off world, nearly extinct. Will be soon, ships can't last forever" Rael said that last part with great difficulty and sorrow lacing his voice, sorrow even aliens could pick up on. Switching to anger he continued, "We get no help from Council, they let us die! They treat us like trash!" His anger only lasts for a moment before he lets it drop and apologizes to his guests.

"Wait a moment Rael; you said there are other species in the galaxy?" Hackett inquired. Slightly deflated Rael replies, "Ahh yes… there are others. We will under…" He started to explain that they would harbor no hard feelings if Humanity had instead chosen to make contact with other species. "Rael you didn't let me finish, we would like to know of these people but I'm more curious of what you said earlier" Hackett paused for a moment before continuing. "You created these AI's, the Geth you call them?" Rael simply nods his head. His wife Hyal'Zorah grabs his hands as they prepare for the worst. "And you're saying that this "Council" hasn't lent you any help at all? They are just letting your people going nearly extinct?" The irritation is his voice slowly becoming more apparent at the mention of such gross inaction. "Ahh…Yes, they treat us like scum, criminals those bosh'tets."

Musing this for a moment, Hackett finally replies, "You may have created the Geth, but no one deserves to be treated like that" he looks Real in what he is sure are his eyes. "I will be honest with you Rael, my people would like to form an alliance with you, and we will not abandon you like the council. We stand by our own" Hackett said his smile spreading, infecting Hannah who also started smiling.

"This… I don't… know what to say!" Rael exclaimed grabbing Hackett's hand. "Thank you for this, we can't… you have already saved my species, thank you" Rael said finally containing himself.

"We must go now, I have to contact my superiors with all of this new information and determine where to go from there" Hackett said motioning for all of his fellows to follow. Hyal had been teaching Jon more Keelish when they had to leave; muttering something in Keelish, Jon reluctantly gets up and walks over to his mom. He looks back at the toddler Tali, and says "She can keep it!" smiling ear to ear he follows his mom out before running back for a second and yelling, "Bye Tali!" before returning to his less than pleased and rather embarrassed mother.

Finally reaching their own ships Hackett sighed at the injustices these people have had to face. He had a report to make to Alliance brass. Things were about to change. He would make sure of it.

End of chapter

A/N: No this is not necessarily a Council hater story, might make it one though. Likely not. Im just trying my best to verbally describe the frustration and anger of a people who feel wronged by inaction.

Caz'in: Play

Benir: Clean

Gsh: Galactic Standard Hour


	3. Chapter 2

A/N: Going to try to make the chapters longer. This however will affect the release of chapters slightly. Please enjoy the chapter! *Also follow, favorite and review if you are enjoying this!*

"So you are just going to give us this planet?" The collective voices of the Admiralty board rose up, in surprise. Despite the kindness the Humans had already shown them, they were still Quarian after all. They had come to expect the secondary citizenship treatment, to expect that the Humans good will would run out soon and strings to be attached to the deal. Humanity gladly proved them wrong. The planet in question wasn't really a planet; it was a large moon of one of their already established colonies, Shanxi. The moon was 1/3 the size of Shanxi, and was primarily forested, with ample supplies of fresh water, and with the humans promising to add an array of animals with dextro DNA. This was all due to the terraforming efforts of the humans, but they did have little issues with allowing them to colonizing the planet. There was small opposition, primarily from Human supremacy groups like Terra Firma. This however was a very small minority of the public opinion.

"I know it isn't Rannoch, but until we can establish a decent foothold in the galaxy it is going to be near impossible to take back your home world" Alien relations specialist Udina explained to them. "We have scientists working on getting you out of those suits permanently. However… due to the unique nature of your immune systems, and considering your relatively unique DNA, this project will take quite a few years to develop before any promising results are seen" he panned his hands out in a explanative manner.

"So for the time being, we have decided that we should give you somewhere to relocate your civilians, and… repair your ships." Udina danced around those last few words very carefully, aware of the sensitivity that Quarians bare regarding their ships.

Behind his visor Admiral Zaal'Koris vas Qwib-Qwib scrunched his brow; he really did like these Humans. They had been good to them so far, but something about this man, something about him seemed wrong. His smile was too genuine, his attitude to eager to help them. Try as he wanted to, he couldn't shake the feeling that this human was trying to manipulate them for his own benefit. "I prefer speaking with Hackett," he thought to himself shifting his gaze back to Udina; probably just your typical career politician, riding the coat tails of popular opinion to political success.

Shifting in his seat, he started to feel uncomfortable after hours of diplomatic negotiations. "All of this is wonderful, but I don't think our species would have survived as long as we have, if we didn't have to sense to be cautious." Pausing for a moment he continued trying to phrase his words very carefully, "So I must ask…. In the way you humans phrase it… What's the catch?"

Silence filled both the room of the ship that the Admiralty board was currently on, and the conference room hosting the important Alliance leaders. Both had decided it was best to do preliminary diplomatic negotiations over a conference call until many things were fleshed out, and the general wellbeing of both species could be assured.

Finally the silence was broken by someone who had not spoken before, "Ladies and Gentleman, my name is David Archer, I am the current serving Prime Arch of the Alliance. I'll cut to the chase straight away. Ever since humans have looked out to the stars we have wondered if we were alone, and honestly regardless of the answer it scared the hell out of us. We quickly sought to build better weapons and faster ships, to do **everything** faster. You can imagine our jubilation when we made contact with you, and we learned that we were wrong. Or so we thought until you warned us of the rest of the galactic community. We understand what you did with the Geth, and how that ticked them off. But gods fucking damn it, the way they punished you was beyond cruel. We as sapient beings in good consciousness could not, and cannot stand idly by and let this just happen. This is not to suggest we go to war with them, but they will be very hard pressed to become our friends. Our catch is this; you become our brothers and sisters, our neighbors and our friends. Your enemies become our enemies, and vice versa. Our galactic neighbors are not to be trusted, and we need to prepare before we step onto the galactic stage" Archer finally sitting down again after his speech.

"Well I for one am convinced," laughed one of the Quarian admirals, as they took a momentary recess to decide the fate of all Quarian. This was not a choice to be made rashly and without careful consideration. Although what they were looking at was nothing short of the good will of species not content with allowing good people to be treated as second class citizens, it was still a fate changing moment. Koris looked at his fellow Admirals for a moment before speaking, "I would like to call a vote here and now. I have reviewed all of the terms brought forth by the humans, as well as what they would promise in return. I see very few downsides and a very large gain, which is the prosperity of our entire species to be secured. All in favor say I."

"I"

"I"

"I"

"I"

"I"

"Good it looks like we are all in agreement here" Koris was silently thanking the ancestors for finally lifting their burden, their curse off of their shoulders. Returning to the conference call they found the humans discussing matters pertaining to their cultural integration and the preliminary details of the immune-booster program that was mentioned earlier. Apparently none of this was particularly classified and so they felt free to casually discuss it.

"We have reviewed your terms, and we gladly accept" Koris spoke for the Admiralty board. "Might we also extend our greatest of thanks, no words in your language or ours can describe the gratitude that our entire species feels towards yours. We will gladly call you brothers and sisters" Koris had a few silent tears falling down his face.

…

In his private chambers councilor Sparatus was flexing his mandibles, a bad habit he had developed over the years. Galactic security fell upon his race, the Turians. That entailed a lot, from being the "big kid on the block" with all of their guns and ships, to patrols and keeping track of potential threats.

Ever since the creation of the Geth and their subsequent exile and ban from colonizing any planets that the council might want instead, the Quarians had been marked as potential threats. As such, it fell upon the Turians to keep an eye on them. If they tried to colonize any world without permission or became bold enough to attempt something, he had to step in. It was much to his dismay when they simply vanished from known space entirely.

The Hierarchy, along with the rest of the Council was breathing down his neck to track them down and make sure that they were not colonizing any planets that would be better used by them.

"Councilor, we are getting reports that the Quarians were last seen near the 314 relay. They simply disappeared after that. It's safe to assume that they activated the relay to gain access to uncharted space."

Hearing this, he smiled a crooked smile. They had breached Council laws. They needed to be punished. "Send the third fleet after them." "Copy that Councilor, ETA to relay 4 days."

…

 **4 days later**

All of the Quarian ships had recently arrived in the system and began to make haste towards their new home of Ryaa. They chose to name the moon this after one of their most faithful ships. Although they had a moon to call their own, many Quarians had been invited to integrate into the larger human colonies and planets. Both species felt it was not a good idea to isolate the Quarians to a single place, less they inadvertently create long lasting social divides.

The humans had similarly moved many of their ships into the region around the Mass Relay. The humans preferred to simply call them Gates.

They had been briefed on the galactic roles that each species played, as well as the typical mannerisms of each. With the information provided, the Alliance had concluded that the Turians would likely be actively seeking the Quarians as to further facilitate their unrighteous punishment.

The Humans decided to bolster their borders. They moved 4 Dreadnaught class ships, as well as at least 400 slightly smaller cruiser class ships. They had plans to move in their flagship soon as well. This flagship was 5 times the length of the Dreadnaught and was made using a new metal, called gate metal that they had deemed to be extraordinarily similar to the Gates; hence the name. It was being dubbed **Gate-Keeper**. The Quarians had insisted upon helping them complete their project and with the looming threat of the Turians, the Alliance had graciously accepted the offer and soon a small envoy of Quarian engineers were sent to help them finish the project. Estimated time to completion was 2 weeks, with every single resource the Alliance could muster being funneled into the project. This thing needed to be done yesterday.

In addition to the new armor, it was rocking a newer propulsion system, the Warp Drive. Due to the astronomical costs of building and implementing such an engine it was likely to be the only of its kind for a very long time. They were sure that the new antimatter powered starship engine would succeed but still felt that they didn't have enough data on it to try for a mass implementation. They would take the date from this ship and study it, using to further improve upon the already bleeding edge engine.

Still the Alliance was holding back absolutely no punches with this ship and they had also decided to equip it with a primary gun that could propel its 3 ton tungsten slugs to 40% the speed of light. This was modeled after the Gates, and the way that they propelled star craft. Although this gun was extraordinarily powerful, it had to be used strategically as the impact of the gun was simply too massive and the resulting heat sink needed to support such a gun needed to be equally so in both size and complexity. This ship was **bleeding edge**.

"This is SSV Promise we are patrolling sector Alpha over" This was the very first Human and Quarian jointly staffed vessel. Much of the Quarian military was eager to serve and so the Alliance put them to work.

"Copy that Promise" Alliance command responded rather quickly. This was the calm before the storm, many felt it, felt a sense of foreboding.

 **3 GSH later**

"Alliance command, we are picking up fluctuations from the Gate. Recommend bringing alert level to two, we still have civilian ships here preparing to make course for Rayaa" the helmsman was getting nervous.

Suddenly all at once, the calm was broken. The raging storm had begun, calling forth enough fury to make a grown man feel like a frightened child. Thousands of Turian ships exited the Gate, their very presence demanding respect.

…

"General, those ships don't match any known signatures. I think we are dealing with first contact here," the Turian helmsman looked to his commanding officer.

"Hmm this changes things…" He paused, mandibles flexing slightly. "Patch me through to Sparatus, Priority one."

"Vakarian this better be damn important," a mildly irritated Sparatus answered the call.

"Sir we found the Quarians, but it seems they have made contact with a new species. We should initiate first contact protocols" Vakarian said, hands behind his back.

"No! They are harboring fugitives, and ones that have violated Council law!" Sparatus roared. Calming down, he smiled a cruel, corrupted Turian smile. "Bring them to justice General. Sparatus out." They had breached Council laws. They needed to be punished.

"Begin hailing them" General Vakarian said to his helmsman.

"Attention new species, you are harboring fugitives of the council, turn them all over to us or face the consequences." After a moment of silence they received a hail back.

Due to the language barrier that the Turians faced with the humans, the humans pinged them with a file containing their language codex. "Hello General, this is commanding officer John Harper, of the Alliance ship SSV Promise, we will not turn over the Quarians to you. We have heard what you have done to them; we have seen it with our own eyes. We will not bow to the incompetence of your "Council"."

"Very well, if you will not turn them over, we will take the by force. Spirits be with you" Vakarin ended the call. "Aim for the Quarian ships, we have orders to take them out at all costs," Vakarian gave the order out with disgust lacing his voice. He felt like a monster for giving that order, but orders were orders. Turians didn't disobey orders.

…

"Alliance command, this is the SSV Promise, we have encountered the Turians. They are hostile and…. Oh my god! They are targeting civilian ships! Dear lord." Silence permeates the air for a moment as John Harper makes a choice. "Please send back up as soon as you can, we are making for an intercept course. We will not allow these innocent civilians to perish under the barbarism of the Turians. Please tell my son Jack that his father loves him very much," The line cuts out shortly after as the Alliance command operator struggles to hold back her tears. Suddenly scrambling she sets the alert level to 1 and notifies the Alliance Navy of the situation.

"Men this is your captain here. It is my regret to tell you that we will most likely not be going home tonight. We cannot let these innocent civilians perish under foreign military power. Plotting intercept course now" John speaks over the intercom. It was not a sense of panic, or regret that filled the hearts and minds of those aboard. It was instead a calm acceptance.

"Divert all power to shields and guns!" Commanded John, as they we being continuously bombarded by the Turians.

"Captain, our shields can't hold out much longer, and our guns have suffered heavy damage!" his helmsman shouted to him. "Most of the civilian ships have jumped into FTL towards their colony. We did it captain, but we aren't going to make it out of here alive." With a heavy heart, John was forced to make one last choice. "Make course for that Dreadnaught LT; it was an honor serving with you" the captain said, his eyes set ahead of him, and his jaw firm. "Yes sir, it was an honor serving with you as well."

A/N: Music setting: Muse: Resistance.

"Do not go gentle into that good night,  
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;  
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,  
Because their words had forked no lightning they  
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright  
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,  
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,  
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,  
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight  
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,  
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,  
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.  
Do not go gentle into that good night.  
Rage, rage against the dying of the light."

"It's been an honor serving with you all" John finished speaking into the intercom moments before his face was engulfed in flames.

…

The last ship to jump to FTL was ironically the Rayaa. They had seen the Turians jump into the system, and assumed that they were threatening the humans. They had seen the Turian ships begin to fire on their live ships as many of them barely made it into FTL. They watched the Humans ship block their shots, buying them as much time as possible. They had heard the urgent paging of the SSV Promise pleading with them to leaving the system. They had seen the final desperate fight of the ship as it plunged into the Dreadnaught destroying it through some miracle granted by the ancestors themselves.

"Captain we need to get out of here, more Alliance ships have just jumped into the area. They are paging us wondering why we haven't left yet!" one of the Quarian crew yelled waking her Shala'Dori vas Rayaa out of her shell shock, tears silently streaming down her face. "Send them the video feed we captured, attach the message Remember the Promise. We won't, we cannot forget this sacrifice."

"Message away captain" her crewman replied. Replying instantly Shala said very solemnly, "Take us out of here."

…

 **6 days later**

"We are nearly to New York Admirals" a young Quarian pilot said over the intercoms. The tension in the air was palpable as they prepared to seal the alliance that would save their species, their benefactors wanting nothing more than camaraderie in return. Koris had his musings interrupted once more by the young helmsman. "We have arrived at the pre-arranged landing coordinates Admirals, Good luck and Keelah Se'Lai." The Admiralty board silently reveled in the moment, in what they were about to embark on and all the possibilities that it would bring. They returned the helmsman's gesture. "Keelah Se'Lai."

They made their way to the headquarters of the Alliance. It was a large building made out of a beautifully sculpted marble and organic shapes. The outside of the building had many different flags from what they could assume was all over the humans planet.

Of all this, what had surprised Koris the most was the absolutely massive crowd of Human faces awaiting their arrival outside of the building. They were all cheering, some even holding up signs in their language. A few signs read, Keelah Se'Lai, and things of that nature. There was one however that all but brought Koris to his knees. Among the crowd many of the signs were in human words but all read the same thing. Remember the Promise. It was something his people would not soon regret.

They had all seen the video, seen those brave men and women sacrifice their lives to ensure their civilians could make it out alive. Although there were both Humans and Quarians among the ship's crew, they all sacrificed their lives that day. The fighting had only picked up and became fiercer as time went on. The Humans had assured them that they had an ace in the hole, that they would show them soon.

Regaining his composure, Koris began to lead his fellow Admirals, and stepped into the building. It was time to solidify their alliance and make those Turian bastards pay for what they did. As his hand held the door to the building, he felt a sense of determination unlike any other he had ever felt before in his life. Turning around he roared to the crowd, "REMEMBER THE PROMISE!" Feeling satisfied, he turned around to enter the building. He ignored the surprised faces of his fellow Admirals, and their marines and entered the building.

It was time to make history.

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Shifting around chapters! Getting it all sorted now


	4. Chapter 3

1 year after the First Contact War

After two long years of grueling combat, the unexpected war with the Turians finally settled down. Having not informed the council of their 'encounter' with the new species, the Turians were all but kicked from the Council, and a large portion of the Turian Hierarchy were impeached and tried for war crimes after the conflict came to the light of the Council.

With the Turian Hierarchy in shambles as the species attempted to rebuild their government, the civilized galaxy very nearly fell into anarchy, as many of the client races began threatening with war. Desperate for a solution, the Council devised a compromise for the non-Council species; allowing these client races to form a council of their own, a form of lesser Council, to serve as check and balance for the Primary Council. The allowances of this Secondary Council included veto power over any policies or laws proposed, while also allowing them to propose laws and policies as well. While still being required to answer to the Primary, the Secondary Council had a key role in the passing of proposals made by the Primary, as more species' delegations were needed to be in approval to earn majority rule.

Of course, the delicate balancing act that these Councils were maintaining began to shift once the Systems Alliance came into the picture, demanding entry into the Primary Council immediately. Begrudgingly, the two Councils allowed the humans entry into the Primary Council, based almost solely upon the fact that they'd already defeated the Turians, the one species that had served as a sort of 'galactic police'. Much of the negative attitudes toward this movement dissipated after the publication of the news about the Turians striking first against the humans. The Alliance wasn't done causing shockwaves among Citadel space, demanding that the Quarians be granted access into Primary as well. Although the many lamented at the idea of the Quarians who they so viciously treated, telling them what to do, they were firmly reminded by the Alliance that this was nonnegotiable.

The SSV Gatekeeper. A human built warship that quickly became the mobile headquarters for the Alliance. On board it, a secret meeting was currently underway.

"With this war finally over, and the galaxy stable, we can begin to move forward. The Gatekeeper has proven to be an invaluable asset during the war. Even now, we're still getting requests from the other members of the Primary to examine it. For once, we're lucky to have all this bureaucratic red tape to keep them tied up. But of course, that won't keep its secrets hidden forever. Knowing this, we're going to allow a "leak" including the details a weaker version of the Gate metal to keep them satisfied. Of course we won't tell them that it's a weaker version," Hackett chuckled, being joined by Koris.

"Ahh Hackett, I hate to interrupt you, but I don't understand why we are talking about this now," Koris said, glancing around the room to the other important Alliance individuals.

"Alright then, enough expositions. I will get straight to the point. There are two reasons we are having this meeting right now." Hackett paused momentarily, making sure he had everyone's full attention. "We are constructing a new Alliance HQ. We are utilizing everything we have learned about the Gate metals, and state of the art communications and defenses, the whole nine yards. We call it: Arcturus Station. The second one… is classified above top secret. If word manages to get out, whoever responsible will likely spend the rest of their life in an obscure max security prison. We found… something…" Hackett looked Koris firmly in his eyes. Although they were obscured behind his visor, Hackett had long since learned where to look anyway.

"Something?" Raan spoke up. "What do you mean something? I don't understand the need for secrecy."

"This is something you have never seen in your life before. We had scientists go check it out, but when they came back. They… were different. We took no chances and locked them up immediately. Thankfully due to our first contact procedures with alien tech, we have established very, very strict protocols. We took scans of their brains before they were exposed to it, as well as a complete psychological profile. What we found after they came back was unsettling. Normally I wouldn't listen to the ravings of mad men, but these mad men were all saying the same goddamn thing. 'We are your salvation. Do not resist the cycle. Do not resist the Harvest.'" Hackett let everyone mull over what he had said to them for a few moments. "We take every threat to the Alliance very seriously; we have dubbed the giant ships Reapers. It is our current theory that they are involved in some galactic extinction cycle."

The emotions in the room were mixed, some felt dread, some felt that this entire meeting had become simply ridiculous. Regardless of the thoughts of those present one thing remained clear in the wake of this new, of the evidence provided, they must prepare.

"So how do were plan to keep this from affecting other people, we cant allow this to fall into anyone else's hands. We also cannot let this thing tear apart our governments from the inside," Koris stated firmly, his acceptance of the situation clear with his serious tone.

"We are moving the Reaper to a secure underwater facility on one of our mid lying colonies. We cannot have it to close to Earth or Rayaa, but at the same time having it too far out presents a lot of risks as well," Hackett responded giving them all a quick nod before standing up and preparing to leave.

"I am sure that I do not need to remind you that what was spoken of here today, will not leave this room. We have work to do ladies and gentlemen, let's get to it." With that, Hackett left the room.

A/N: Just a quick little chapter to finish up the "past" chapters and explain some things that might have otherwise seemed odd, or out of place. Now back to the lovebirds we all want to see again! Alonns-y

B/N: Hey all! Just want to say sorry real quick for not having this beta'd earlier this week. Family emergency kind of put a lot of things on hold, but I got it done! Hope everyone likes it!


	5. Chapter 4

"I-I am leaving to start my pilgrimage father…" Tali'Zorah nar Ryaa said through a strained and filtered voice to her father.

She had come to visit her father to say what could possibly her final goodbye because after all, the galaxy was a big and dangerous place. This was the custom of her people, to prove worth to the rest of the fleet; a final step into adulthood. Although it wasn't necessary anymore, Tali had an old soul and preferred to do things the old fashioned way.

Tali snapped out of her daze, focusing on her father's back. His silence weighed heavy on her, though she had come to expect it. Finally the silence was broken by short and curt words. "Be safe Tali" Rael'Zorah briefly glancing in her direction before returning his full focus once more upon his work. Sighing lightly, Tali made preparations for her trip to Eden Prime.

…

After Tali had left Rael was alone once more with his thoughts. He sighed heavily as he lowered his visor into his upwardly faced palms. "Bosh'tet" he whispered to himself. He could not help pushing his only daughter out of his life, she reminded him far too much of her late mother.

…

"Ready to go Tali?" Keenah'Breizh asked the silent Quarian, glancing back at her. After a silent nod from her Keenah chuckled to himself as they boarded their ship and he sat down at the helm. Finishing his checks he spoke to the intercom.

"This is Keenah'Breizh aboard the Honorata; we are taking off and making course for Eden Prime."

"Copy that, may you be safe among the stars ship brother"

Eden Prime

"Are you sure he is ready?" Koris asked the man, looking out the starboard window. "Yes, Shepard is the best we got, he has been training for this his whole life" Anderson replied firmly.

"He has grown up on ships his and is a brilliant man, joining the alliance as soon as he was old enough to enlist" pouring himself drink out of a bottle of dextro, levo hybrid brandy. After first contact, the combined efforts of both the Human and Quarian scientists had quickly overcome the limitations of the differing types of DNA between the two species. Recent breakthroughs had even promised that the two would be able to have children without them becoming infertile. This development had originally been feared to cause unrest but the public had different ideas and instead graciously embraced the development. Although small pockets of purist groups remained on both sides, the species had already symbolically become one long ago. Many were already dubbing the offspring of both "Baleri".

"He performed beyond expectations during the Turian contact war …" Koris's voice was laced with sorrow, remembering the painful sacrifices the humans had made for them. Grateful was a colossal understatement of what the Quarians felt towards the humans.

"That was a brutal war for us all but the Quarians were there for us, and shed blood on the battlefield alongside us. A brotherhood forged in blood, bravery, and sacrifice" Anderson said staring down into his drink. A calm silence filled the air, and it was not uncomfortable, but a welcome refuge in their constantly busy lives.

…

"How is my favorite Helmsman? Shepard asked Joker, stopping by to see one of his few friends on the ship. "Same as always Shepard, brittle bones and a fantastic sense of humor" Joker replied cracking a grin in John Shepard's direction.

"I'm not entirely sure about that second part" Shepard and Joker both broke out into a laugh. "Yeah yeah, whatever Shepard, Anderson wants to see you on floor 3, seemed important" Joker said returning his full attention to the ship, grin remaining on his face. Eye brows arching, Shepard made his way to Anderson.

…

"Sir you requested my presence" Shepard saluted Anderson, while glancing over at Koris, saluting him as well.

"Shepard we are en route to Eden Prime, and it's critical that this mission go off without a hitch" Anderson said with a serious tone to Shepard. Before Shepard could respond Koris chimed in

"This is going to the first of many missions that we will be observing you on Shepard, I will be evaluating you" Koris said clasping Shepard's shoulder.

"Sir I don't understand" shifting back and forth Shepard made eye contact with Anderson searching for an answer.

Setting down his drink, Anderson stood up looking Shepard in the eye, "We are recommended you for N7, Shepard."

Taking it all in he nodded as he tried his best to remain profressional, "Thanks for this opportunity."

"Well suit up, it is time to go" Koris made his way to the cargo bay.

"Wait, what is the mission objective sir?" Shepard inquired, eye brows arching instinctively. "It's just a routine pickup op Shepard" neither of the senior soldiers seemed ready to give up the biscuit.

Giving both of them a look Shepard continued pressing, "N7 doesn't get involved with simple." After a slightly extended silence Anderson finally spoke up, "It's Prothean Shepard."

…

"Sir we are being hailed by Eden Prime, want me to patch it through? It sounded urgent" Joker chimed over the intercom, voiced laced with concern.

"Go ahead and patch it through Joker" a grim feeling dawned over Anderson.

…

"Keelah, I've never seen the Geth behave like this before or with this kind of technology. This is… simply monstrous" Keenah ducked behind cover, gunfire pelting the stone he took solace behind.

"Did you find anything on the quantum black box you recovered Tali?" Popping off a few shots before being suppressed again, he looked at Tali waiting for an answer. "Hey snap out of it Tali, I need you to focus!" he yelled at her, finally waking her from the spell she had been in.

"Ah yes, I did its bits of a recording, something about someone named Saren" Tali said while searching for a path of retreat.

"What does that have to do with Geth presence here?" Keenah beckoned her to follow him as they fell back further away from the dig site, towards their ship. "Well whoever this Saren is, he is behind the Geth attack here"

…

"This is Shepard; we have reached the ground and are beginning our approach over" Shepard began his approach to the colony, with Sargent Kaidan Alenko following him close behind. Eden Prime was a beautiful colony that now reeked of death. "Keep your eyes sharp Sargent" Shepard voiced over his intercom.

…

"Careful Kaidan, we have activity on our 12" Shepard trained his weapon directly ahead of him. To his surprise it was not a human colonist that was approaching them, it was two Quarians. Shepard had grown up surrounded by intelligent Quarians who had tough him everything he knew, praising him as a genius with ships. Even with his affinity for spacecraft, he enlisted in the military anyway. He focused in on the slightly smaller of the two, and strangely he found himself enjoying her form abit more than was professionally recommended.

"Shepard we got Geth incoming, and… what the fuck are those!" Kaidan yelled over the intercom while finding cover. Beside the Geth, humanoid monsters with wires running through their skin were barreling towards them right behind the Quarians. Snapping out of his daze he himself found cover quickly taking of care of the monstrosities, with the Geth following shortly after.

"Keelah, you saved our lives back there thank you" Tali said to the two soldiers focusing her attention momentarily to the one on the left, noticing that he was staring at her. Feeling her cheeks warm up, she continued. "We came here to investigate reports of Geth presence; I figured that it might help me on my Pilgrimage" Shepard's eyebrows shot up at the last word, wondering why the young Quarian would be partaking upon a dead tradition. "Maybe she is an old soul like me" Shepard thought to himself, warmth filling his cheeks as he smiled, grateful his expressions were hidden behind the helmet.

"My name is Commander Jon Shepard, and this is Sargent Kaidan Alenko" he said respectfully introducing himself and his squad mate. "You picked a hell of a time to do some investigating" Shepard continued, glancing for a moment in the direction that they had come from before turning his attention back to the Quarians. "Do you have transportation out of here? Shepard indicating they were about to embark.

"Well… our ship was just outside of the colony… on the outer docking port. All of the ports were swarmed first when the attack began" Keenah said to Shepard, dropping his weapon to his side. "We thought our location was secure however; our ship was not spared the fate of the others" Indicating explosions with his hands.

To the surprise of both Quarians, Shepard chuckled slightly and in a slightly coy manner replied, "Guess that means you are riding with us."

"Well I hate to ask you to go back into the fire, but we still have a mission to complete and you look combat ready" Shepard said to them as he began a routine check on his assault rifle. "I wouldn't recommend staying here though, the area isn't secure and we might be the only friendly faces you see around here for a while" Shepard said finishing his routine check and began heading towards the direction they had just run from, with Kaidan following closely in suit. Tali found herself admiring Shepard's backside as they took off towards the colony, saving the video feed for later.

"Well I guess that's our ride Tali" Keenah raised his gun and headed in that direction, Tali quickly following while preparing her own.

Now a larger group, they began making progress back towards the colony. Much to Shepard's dismay, he had to take point. He would have much preferred to stay in the back and enjoy the view.

Accessing her Omni tool discretely she began doing some research into Shepard. "I just want to know who he is" Tali thought to herself and they continued to progress into the colony. She had managed to locate some loose extranet pages connected to him and saved them for later.

Coming to a clearing, Shepard took cover, motioning for the rest to do the same. Slowly he peered around the corner and recognized the area that they had just arrived at was a train station of sorts. Readying his rifle and slowly moving out he scans the immediate area, with Kaidan and the two Quarians following closely.

End of Chapter

A/N: Yes in this universe Humans and Quarians can have kids

In this reality, Shepard is not already in the N7 program and it is the equivalent of a spectre, if not better ;)

I started this off with a present day chapter because I wanted to somewhat set the story. I however realize now that there is some real word building to do and would like to focus on the lore and history. Let me know what you guys think.


	6. Chapter 5

A/N: Had to shift story around abit thanks for understanding, sorry for confusions.

Shepard, Tali, Kaidan, and Keenah had been steadily progressing toward the last know location of the beacon. Latest Intel reports claimed it was along the northern region of the train station, being prepared for transport to the outer docks.

Coming upon a small hill, Shepard signaled them to slow down and he himself began moving forward very carefully in a crouch. He reached the apex of the hill, giving him a clear view the station. Immediately to his 11, he spotted the beacon referenced in the reports. "We see the beacon, it looks clear for now, but we are moving to secure it. Outer docks have been destroyed so, we will have to attempt a pickup here" Shepard spoke into his comm, reporting to Koris.

"Roger that, I'm having Joker head your way now, ETA 5 minutes" Koris responded promptly.

Shepard began moving closer to the beacon to do a brief visual check, when the beacon flickered to life. It seemed as if the beacon sensed his presence and had been waiting just for him. It drew him with a seemingly indomitable hunger that was uncharacteristic of "dormant" technology.

He felt cold, wet, and strained for breath. It was as if Shepard was being drawn forcibly into a body of water. Once he was fully submerged in the embrace of the beacon, it touched his mind. Communicating to him not in words but, the universal language of memory. It was too fast to understand; it showed him wonderful things like language, science, and prosperity. These only lasted for a moment and were usurped by cruel horrors. Death, decay, and biosynthetic abominations then filled his mind. The final thing he saw before being spit back out was an immense starship that left him with a grim sense of foreboding.

"Commander?! We need you to wake up, cause we got hostiles!" Kaidan shouted to Shepard finally waking him up.

"Shit Kaidan, what happened to me?" Shepard had one hell of a migraine.

"You got close to the beacon and took a little nap Commander" Kaidan laughed.

Gunfire was heavily suppressing them from the south, and the rag tag crew took cover behind some metal separators.

"Don't worry Kaidan, your nap time is up next" Shepard retorted, getting a chuckle out of both Kaidan and Tali.

…

For some reason, Jon seemed very familiar to Tali. She felt as if she had known him for a long time but, that didn't make him any less appealing… "Keelah Tali, get it together you are in the middle of a firefight!" she thought to herself as bullets continued to pelt the metal plate she was hiding behind. Taking a deep breath she peeked over the cover and with a few taps on her Omni tool sent her custom drone out.

"Good thinking Tali!" Shepard shouted making her smile under her visor. "Alright Kaidan and I are going to flank their left you guys need to provide us cover fire." Keenah and Tali immediately came up from their cover and began a wide sweeping suppressive fire to give him and Kaidan the best chance of reaching their left flank unimpeded. Keenah shouted, "Grenade out!" as he tossed an EMP grenade toward the Geth, disabling a few Geth. They make quick work of the remaining hostiles once Shepard and Kaidan reached their destination.

"This is Joker; I have visual on you and the device."

Once aboard the Normandy, Shepard was immediately met by Koris, asking for a mission report. Finding out that Shepard was able to interface with the Prothean beacon without breaking it, both Koris and Anderson were surprised. Many of the scientists there had been trying to activate the beacon with little success. He went down to the cargo bay to quickly remove his gear and shower. Afterwards he would go to meet the two senior soldiers for what was likely to be an important meeting. Releasing the seals on his helmet and armor he neatly put them into his equipment locker, his body was newly exposed to air and was glistening with sweat.

"Oh Keelah..." Tali thought to herself, parts of her body starting to warm up. Long ago the two species had overcome the sexual and societal stigmas regarding attraction to the other species. Jonathan's very well defined body shimmered as the sweat dripped down his body, and Tali found herself saving the video feed from her suit for later.

Turning his head he noticed that the two Quarians were still following him. It made sense since they weren't apart of the crew technically, and they had no idea where to go. He decided then to offer them a formal invitation to the crew. "I'm not sure if you have somewhere in the galaxy you need to be, but for the time being you can tag along with us, you still need to complete your pilgrimage right Tali?" He stepped just abit closer to her.

As he got closer, Tali got a nice close up view of his body, with her eyes working their way down. "Mmm…" she thought to herself before she was abruptly brought back to reality but Keenah's nudge. "Oh what? I was just… uhh… yeah Im not done with my pilgrimage yet. With our ship destroyed it's kind of hard get around. You wouldn't mind us tagging along with you?" she forced her eyes back up, thankful that the trajectory of her gaze was relatively obscured by her visor.

Chuckling to himself, Shepard responded, "No of course not, it would be my pleasure, Miss Zorah. Now on if you go to deck two and tell them that you have been recently added to the crew, Im sure our XO can assign you quarters." Keenah hearing this began to make his way towards the elevator.

Seeing him walk away Shepard turned his attention back Tali, he said, "Well I need to shower before I go talk to Anderson and Koris. I'll catch you later?" He began to walk away before turning back to her once more. "Unless you wanted to join me in that shower…" Tali didn't know how to react to this; her body began to heat up as she stammered out her answer. "I..uhh…I.. I need some rest, but it's not like… oh Keelah is it hot in here?"

Laughing he responded, "Im sorry Tali, I was just joking. I hope I didn't offend you. Let's catch up sometime later ok?" He said before walking away and entering the showers. Standing there for a moment in a daze, Tali hears Keenah calling to her, "Tali? You coming?" She turns away from the shower and heads over to the elevator, pulling up those bookmarked extranet sites.

…

"First let me congratulate you on your mission son, its rather fortunate for those two that you had found them when you did" Anderson paced back and forth in the debriefing room. "We have been receiving reports of the Geth making those goddamn abominations out of Humans. But, you said that the beacon drew you in? It touched your mind?" Anderson inquired, and Koris was equally interested as well.

"Yes sir, it wasn't on purpose but, the beacon showed me a lot…." He said his voice trailing off. "It showed me pieces of their tech, their culture, their… demise. I know this is going to sound crazy, because I can barely make sense any sense out of it myself, but two words continue to repeat in my mind. Reapers. Harbinger. I think these "Reapers" took out the Protheans, and I think they are coming back." Stepping back to look at their reactions he felt a small fear creep upon him. Surely they would think he is insane, stick him in some crazy bin and force his silence.

Silence filled the room as the two senior officers stared silently at Shepard, processing what he had said, before looking at each other. Shepard felt that the tension in the air was palpable, but only for a brief moment. Then his brows arched, as he processed what their silence meant. **They knew something**.

"Shepard, what I'm about to tell you is classified above top secret" Koris said breaking the silence. "There is a reason the Alliance has been placing such a strong emphasis on Prothean tech and artifacts" Koris let the pause hang momentarily in the air. "We know the Reapers are coming, we know they can… twist minds and make those god damn abominations you seen down there. We have learned how to combat it, the corrupting process, just barely" Koris was interrupted mid-sentence by Shepard's indomitable curiosity.

"Wait… they can twist minds? I'm not sure I follow sir, and we can fight it?" Shepard raised his hand to his chin striking an inquisitive pose. He was no stranger to the concept of mind control, but it seemed so far-fetched that a sentient starship would be able to corrupt minds.

"From what we have been able to understand so far, it comes down to what the Reaper is, what it's made out of. I can't tell you just yet how we know this but although it would appear that the reaper is made out of some ultra-strong metal, if you break down that metal it turns into biosynthetic goo. The Reapers were made from living beings, converted into the Reaper form. It's our belief that during the construction process, many genes of the species it is being constructed from are modified. These modifications create a telepathic flow through and around the creature, allowing the creature to slowly and subtly bend living beings to its will. Granted it has power of course. Further study suggests that once a telepathic link has been established with an organic being, they can manipulate them from across the galaxy." Koris paused giving Shepard a chance to absorb it all. He nodded his head a few times, muttering "Hmm" on occasion.

After allowing Shepard a few minutes to process the information he continued. "It's our understanding that the only way to fight the telepathic influence is with… tin foil hats…" Koris said trailing off, attracting the attention of a wide eyed Jonathan Shepard. "NO… way… you got to be fucking with me right?" Shepard burst out, flabbergasted. Koris and Anderson looked at each other and burst into laughter. "Im sorry Jonathan, you were just so into it, I couldn't help myself." Koris put his hand on his shoulder. "Actually it just a chemical injection that prevents additional beta waves from being created inside the brain" he sides still hurting from earlier.

"I can't believe I fell for that Koris" Jonathan ran his hair through his hair shifting his attention to Anderson. "Son, all jokes aside, this is till top secret. We have presented our evidence to the Council on several occasions, and the brushed it off each time. We no longer bear any ill will towards the Council but we won't sit around waiting for them to get off their asses. We have seen the writing on the wall, and we will be prepared when the Reapers come back." Anderson stood up and began walking out of the room. As he was about to exit the door, he looked back at Shepard, "Get some rest, we need to deliver this beacon to Mars tomorrow and we all need to be at our best Shepard. Oh and by the way, good work out there." With that Anderson left the room. Koris nodded his head and said, "Indeed, I am impressed so far, but do not get comfortable." He too left the room, leaving Shepard alone in the room to contemplate what he had just been told. Gazing out the window into the endless void of space, he marveled at its beauty briefly. He decided to go and check up on his the new crew members to take his mind off things.

…

A/N: Yeah Tali is abit obsessive rn, and Shepard likes to tease her because he likes her. I promise she will mellow out after they "get together". Everyone needs some sex once in a while, and well our young Tali here has a very healthy sexual appetite. Shepard will also mellow out on the teasing too. I want to create the image of dashing young commander Shepard who is enticed by a beautiful Quarian who cares for him very much, and him in turn caring for her very much as well. An even relationship if you will. I don't want him to be in "control" 24/7.

I will transition back and forth from present tense, and past tense as I deem fit to world build or explain some very important plot points.

If you enjoy this please considering adding this to your favorites, following me, or leaving a review. I appreciate it all and it motivates me to write more, better, and even faster than I already do. I crank these bad boys out!


	7. Chapter 6

Jonathan enjoyed talking to his crew. It was something he thought gave his troops a sense of loyalty, and in turn made the mission go a bit smoother. 'Show your troops that you really care and that you are all in it together' had easily become one of his mottos as a Commander.

He had made his rounds talking to his newfound crewmates. He hadn't forgot about all the old ones, but he made sure to take his time talking to the newest recruits, Keenah and Tali. On the surface, Keenah seemed like a pretty plain guy. After talking to him a bit, however, Jon felt like he got a glimpse into who he really was. Keenah's pilgrimage was a heartwarming adventure; one that taught him a very valuable lesson. He had been working for a ship junker, trying to make a few credits every day, barely making enough to survive.

His employer was a crotchety old man who always had a rock-hard and bitter outlook on everything. Keenah had inadvertently touched his heart anyway. He was always to work on time, never complained, and was always willing to help the old man in any way he could. The old man eventually began to look at him as his own son.

One day the old man got drunk and as he did, he started getting sentimental. He began to dwell on the fact that his life was nearing completion and that all he had ever done was shut people out. Keenah sat down besides the old man and began to talk to him. Keenah told him all about his people, his life on the Flotilla, about his ancestry and their beliefs. He felt that even though the old man seemed bitter and distant on the outside, on the inside he was just scared to let anyone in.

This resonated with the old man; he made a choice to change his life. He didn't want to be alone anymore; he planned to close his junkyard and go back to the family he had estranged himself from years prior. Before he left, he decided to say some passing words to the young pilgrim.

"Thank you boy, for everything," the old man said, handing him a credit chit with 10,000 credits on it.

"Sir I can't take this… It's too much!" Keenah protested, trying to hand him back the chit.

"No listen here. You have earned every single credit on this chit. What you have given me, it's much more valuable than some credits. You gave me my life back. Oh, by the way, name's Jackson," The old man smiled a heartwarming smile before leaving the old junkyard, stopping a couple paces out to take one last look at the place.

"Goodbye, Jackson," Keenah smiled behind his visor. He felt better than he ever had in his life. It was time to go home.

Jonathan sat at the bar, mulling over everything Keenah had told him, his thoughts eventually drifting towards Tali. When he first met her, two lines of thought crossed his mind: she's a scared young woman, and that she had an amazing body on her that he hoped to explore. The latter of the two thoughts, Jon figured, was just a passing lust that would subside, once he had finished rubbing one out. Despite this, his curiosity burned with even more fire than before. "Why do I even want to know more about her," Jonathan thought to himself. He couldn't shake the feeling that he had met her somewhere before, accompanied by a sense of comfort; a sense of home. Perhaps that's the reason he enjoyed being near her so much. Whatever the reason, he decided it may be best to distance himself from her a bit, lest he make an utter fool of himself.

From Tali, his thoughts drifted to the war. The war. No matter what he did, the things he had seen in that war continued to haunt him. He had lost a lot of good friends in that war; seen a lot of civilians and fellow soldiers massacred. Whenever he found himself remembering that god forsaken war, he found himself wanting to forget it, found himself at the bar.

He stared down into his whiskey, the bottle it originated from not far away. He had already had a few drinks, and decided that although drinking sometimes helped him, it wasn't going to make all the bad go away. In his drunken state, he made his way to the elevator, finger inches away from the button that would take him to his quarters, when he decided to make a quick detour to the mess. Figured he could get himself a cup of decaf to sober him up a bit before he passed out. Sitting down, after finally managing to pour himself a cup, he realized that he wasn't alone. Across from him, sat a figure he recognized belonged to a quarian, two small glowing orbs staring at him.

Deciding the break the silence, he spoke up: "What's wrong, Tali? Couldn't sleep?"

"Yeah, I guess I'm just having a hard time adjusting to the new environment." Tali said, looking at Jon. "I guess I'm just worried because my pilgrimage hasn't exactly gone as planned. Most people would tell me just to give it up, that it doesn't matter anyway so I don't really need to worry about completing it. They don't understand it, what it means to me." The ship hummed quietly, almost to where it was silent.

"I understand, well. I would like to think that I do in some way. It's about honoring your past, your ancestry. Remembering where you came from so you never forget where you are going," Jon said looking straight ahead of him, eventually looking down into his dim reflection in the coffee.

"Yeah, that's… right. No one else ever really understood. I'm glad someone else gets it, at least a bit." Tali smiled behind her visor. The conversation she was having with Jonathan now was pleasant. She was glad that there was more to him than just raw sex appeal, or the coy nature he put forward. It made him more interesting. She couldn't help but wonder what else there was to the man.

Some time passed, and they continued to make small talk as the ship kept humming away silently. The hum was soothing to Jonathan, waging a war of attrition against the increasingly weary soldier's will to sleep, which of course began to win once he started moving.

"Well Tali, I'm going to bed. Please try to get some sleep, seeing as we touch down on Mars in 6 hours. Sounds like it is going to be a busy day." With that, Jon went back to his quarters, considerably sobered up and quickly passed out.

…

The next day, Shepard reported to the cargo bay bright and early, where he was given a quick briefing regarding their delivery of the artifact. It was going to be a standard drop off procedure. Bring it there and leave. Jonathan wasn't quite sure where they would be heading off to next but he was nonetheless eager to prove his N7 eligibility.

Stepping off the ship and onto the Mars landing platform, Jonathan was mesmerized by the beauty of the planet. Large scale terraforming efforts were always underway to turn the barren rock into a lush garden world, and looking around; he could see the efforts were paying off. It was gorgeous.

The Alliance needed it to look good, because it had essentially become the galactic center for research. As a gesture of good will, the Alliance had poured billions of credits into making Mars a haven for scientists and engineers alike. After the First Contact War, they felt like such a measure was needed to improve their standing with the rest of the galaxy. They invited scientists from all over the galaxy to take up residence there, where they would be largely undisturbed by the outside, non-scientific community. Although the planet was still largely regulated, it was a melting pot for scientists of all species.

Jonathan had only ever been here once before, and he felt that he would never get sick of seeing it in his lifetime. His musings were interrupted by an asari, who politely coughed to get his attention. Seeing him snap out of his musings, she chuckled lightly. "Hello, I am Doctor Liara T'Soni, and you are?" She politely held out her hand, and he quickly shook it. "Name's Jonathan Shepard, Alliance engineer and soldier. We got a package to deliver here for you." He tapped a few holographic buttons on his omni-tool as the beacon slowly descended onto the platform, being suspended by a little flat circular hovercraft that Jonathan had designed and constructed himself. Liara's face lit up a bit in surprise when she seen the way the beacon was brought off the ship.

"You make that yourself Jonny?" Keenah clasped Jon's shoulder as he, Tali, and Kaidan made their way down onto the platform.

"Yeah it's a handy little piece of hardware I cooked up by subjecting the eezo within to a very light electrical current. Clockwise current to raise it, counterclockwise to lower it and if you…," Jonathan began to passionately explain how it worked before he cut himself off and noticed that they were all staring at him. Breaking into an embarrassed grin, he briefly ran his fingers through his hair before coughing and urging the doctor to lead them on. Liara again let out a chuckle, very subtly checking Jonathan out, before speaking again. "I'm surprised that you did not attend Mars University. A bright man like you surely would have gotten in without a hitch." Jonathan, ever the modest man simply shook his head, "No, I joined up with the Alliance as soon as I could, and I ended up attending Shanxi after the war. When I go for my Master's, I hope to get admitted here," Jonathan said. Liara smiled at him, "Well, I look forward to that day, Shepard." Jonathan didn't really notice the doctor's subtle enthusiasm at the prospect of him attending University there, but Tali did and she couldn't help but furrow her brow behind her visor.

The facility that they were entering was one located within the southern hemisphere of Mars. This facility was particularly focused on research regarding everything left behind by the Protheans. The architecture of the facility itself seemed to emulate the Protheans in every aspect that their technology and understanding of them would allow. Jonathan felt breathless as he entered, marveling at it all.

Every door they passed contained something as they walked down the long corridor to the doctor's lab. In one, biologists were studying Prothean genetic structure, while others contained engineers attempting to reverse engineer various artifacts. Jonathan couldn't help but feel envious as he continued to follow Liara, but he had no regrets about joining the military.

As the beacon was brought into and gently placed within Liara's lab, Jonathan carefully removed his device from underneath the beacon moments before it was sat down on the ground. Liara immediately began to eagerly examine the beacon, scrunching her face in contemplation as she continued.

"The beacon has been badly damaged." Liara observed, gazing over at them inquisitively.

Running his fingers through his hair, Jonathan chuckled and began to explain what had happened and what the beacon had showed him. "I'm sure that if you wanted to interface with it directly, you could get one more use out of it before it would be destroyed completely," Jonathan suggested looking at Liara.

"Shepard, I'm not sure if that's a great idea," Kaidan quipped, grinning at him.

Liara jumped in stepping away from the beacon and closer to the four. "Yeah, as much as I would enjoy doing that, it's best that we try to extract the data from it through other, less dangerous means first. Though I must admit, I find it quite remarkable that you were able to handle it at all. You must be remarkably strong-willed. Shepard." Liara purred out seductively, as she stepped closer to Jonathan, sliding her hand down his forearm.

It took all the willpower Tali had not to slap Liara's arm off of him. He wasn't her boyfriend or anything, so she wondered why Liara's swooning had made her so upset. Much to her elation, Liara soon backed off, returning her attention to the beacon. Kaidan gave Shepard a quick grin.

They stayed there for an hour more, giving Liara a detailed explanation of what had occurred and the visions that Jonathan had seen, before bidding her farewell and returning to their ship.

They then left the Martian atmosphere and began their two-hour journey to Arcturus Station. Koris hadn't informed Jonathan the reasoning behind the journey to Arcturus, but he was still excited to see the heart of the Alliance government once more.

The trip was short and Jonathan spent it playing soccer down in the cargo bay with the Kaidan, Keenah, and the rest of the ship's crew. After some small convincing, they even managed to get Tali to play. Shepard, Tali and half the crew made up one team, Kaidan, Keenah and the rest of the crew made up the other. The game lasted an hour and a half with Shepard's team coming out on top by one point. Kaidan's team, being the good sports they were, remarked on how close the game was and demanded a rematch shortly.

Shortly after, they arrived at Arcturus Station. Jonathan never got tired of staring at the massive station through the observation windows, though Kaidan and Keenah got a chuckle at his expense every time, calling him a man-child. Even Tali managed to get in on the fun, much to Jonathan's delight. He felt that she was alienating herself from the group which had him slightly worried.

Proceeding to the second floor of the ship, they found Koris and Anderson, already waiting for them by the main airlock of the ship. The two of them led the way through the busy station at a brisk pace, though that didn't stop Jonathan from admiring the scenery. They arrived at a large area, very akin to the Presidium on the Citadel and took an elevator down, presumably to a level that was normally restricted, and was it a massive one.

They finally stopped moving once they reached an office, stepping inside Hackett, Doctor Xen, and Jonathan's mother Admiral Hannah Shepard were waiting for them. With a very dry cough Jonathan said, "Hey… mom… nice to see you."

Hackett chuckled as Hannah accepted a hug from her son, "Well it's about damn time I see you again, you never contact me anymore. Honestly, even too busy for you own mother?" she said feigning disappointment. "However, a family meet-and-greet isn't why we're here today." Hannah motioned to the two quarians behind him forward, "I hear that you extracted something important from a geth."

Stepping forward, Tali acknowledged that they did and with a few taps on her omni-tool, she played the audio file she extracted.

"Eden Prime was a major victory, the beacon has brought us one step closer to the conduit." Saren's husky, turian voice was unmistakable, but was soon joined by another, smoother voice. "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers."

The room went silent after the file was played. Hackett finally broke the silence, speaking up grimly. "We got a rogue Spectre on our hands here, and with his reach and freedom of operation, he presents a very clear threat. We need to present this to the Council so we can take him down immediately. We cannot have him assisting the Reapers, and putting the galaxy in grave danger. Whether the Council believes us or not, he needs to be taken down. We are going to send an N7 to the council along with the evidence." Hackett stared directly and Jonathan, and shortly after the rest of the eyes in the room looked at him too.

"What, I'm not an N…." he began to speak but silenced himself after his realization." I thought we had more missions to complete first before I was allowed into the N7?" he questioned Anderson.

"Son you handled that mission flawlessly, and proved to us that you are N7 material. Plus, the situation has changed. Think of this as another test. Of course, you are going to need your own ship and crew, but it looks like you already have the beginnings of your crew fleshed out. We already have a crew that would assist you in day-to-day operations aboard the Normandy assembled and ready to depart." Anderson put his hand on Jonathan's shoulder.

Jonathan shot him a look, "Normandy?"

Doctor Xen stepped forward and said with a smile; "Jonathan let me show you to our newest frigate, the Normandy." With that they got out of their seats and followed Doctor Xen to a massive hanger.

The paint job was a sleek, breath taking black and the ship looked like it was built to withstand just about anything. Doctor Xen continued to explain the ships cutting edge tech, and Jonathan being the engineering fanatic that he was could barely contain his excitement as they shifted to talk about the ships propulsion system; the warp drive. This peaked Tali's interest, too and even behind the mask one could tell she was practically drooling. "You cannot use the warp drive within the vicinity of the Citadel or other major locations in Council space, unless it is an absolute emergency. Showing off this kind of tech, is going to attract some greedy eyes," Doctor Daro'Xen warned them with a very firm tone.

Eventually, Koris interrupted them, finally having had enough 'nerding out' and urged a tour of the ship was in order. Unfortunately for him, the 'nerd-fest' only intensified once they got inside and got down to specifics, which obviously gave a great amount of enjoyment to everyone else.

…

Tali all but demanded to work with the drive core, to which Jonathan happily agreed. They met engineering Chief Adams, who was more than happy to greet his newest member of his engineering crew. The tour concluded when she introduced Jonathan to his helmsman.

"Pleased to be at your service, Commander," Joker said with a wry smile.

"Couldn't have been anyone else but you, Joker?" Jonathan retorted with his own wry smile.

"Ahh, come on Commander. We both know you would have gotten lonely without me," Joker laughed and with that turned back to the ship's controls, as he was familiarizing himself with the controls.

"Well Shepard, the ship is yours and your mission is clear. Before you go, however, due to the nature of your mission, we must ask something of you and your crew. Please report to Titan Hospital to undergo our anti-indoctrination injections, as well as psych evals and the like," Hackett said to him, tone serious. "In addition to that, we will present you with your new N7 armor," Hackett finally finished before he urged them to follow him to the medical facility.

…

3 days later, the Normandy's crew had reported to Titan Hospital and were once again aboard the Normandy, preparing her for her maiden voyage.

"All systems nominal, Commander," Joker reported over the intercom.

"Engine holding steady, Commander," Adams reported as well.

"Space: The final frontier

These are the voyages of the Starship, Enterprise

Its 5-year mission:

To explore strange new worlds,

To seek out new life and new civilizations,

To boldly go where no man has gone before," Jonathan spoke over the intercom, trying his best to stifle his laugh. He had always wanted to say that. Joker groaned in response, muttering something under his breath.

"Alright Joker make course for the Citadel, we got a rogue Spectre to start hunting down." Jonathan couldn't help but feel that this was the start of something big.

"No more Star Trek quotes, Commander?" Joker chided.

"Well…" Jonathan began.

"I had to ask!" Joker groaned loudly over the intercom.

A/N: One thing I need to make clear is that the events that are taking place in the present are effectively 20 or so years after the First Contact war and by this time a lot of the hatred has faded between turians and humans, and in fact thy are often very close. Also yes, Admiral Xen is no longer an Admiral; she left that to pursue her passion of scientific research.

I changed the way I am portraying Jonathan and Tali. I didn't want Jonathan to be some smug, coy piece of man candy. I wanted him to be an eager, enthusiastic young engineer and soldier on the biggest adventure of his life. He is not without flaws though. Tali is a bit more of a loner but that makes some sense regarding her childhood from canon ME but she is starting to warm up to the crew and Jonathan, discovering that there is much more to him. In future chapters I will certainly develop the romance between the two extensively.

B/N: Hey everyone, Random here. Just wanna say that I'm hoping everyone's liking where Ellie and I are going with this, and if anyone has any advice or suggestions toward the story, let us know in a review, or a PM!


	8. Chapter 8

Hey guys! So I am going on a temporary hiatus. Ive decided to do something of a rewrite of the story. Try to make things flow better. Also with the approach of Andromeda I figure that most of the people who love Mass Effect enough to read fanfiction will be busy at this point anyway!

Anyway by the time the hype of Andromeda wears off, and everyone has already played through it we should be back up and running better than ever. If you have any suggestions or critique's pm me or my Beta reader Random Useless Info.

EllieN7

Random Useless Info


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